Squirreled Away Upgrade Guide: 15 Easy Changes You Can Make

Last updated on May 24, 2025

Hazel of the Rootbloom | Illustration by Anna Pavleeva

A new Magic set means new Commander precons to upgrade! This has become one of my favorite parts of new MTG sets, right up there with diving into new Limited formats. I’ve been particularly excited for Bloomburrow thanks to reading Redwall when I was younger. I guess the marketing team found their target!

The Squirreled Away Commander precon focuses on what might be Magic’s funniest archetype: squirrels! It only takes fifteen of these to take down Emrakul, the Aeons Torn! But how can we make the most of this deck and its Golgari commander, Hazel of the Rootbloom?

Let’s crack open a cache and find out!

Deck Overview

Deep Forest Hermit | Illustration by Chris Seaman

EDH precons typically have two glaring weaknesses. The first contains weak or off-theme cards. These are often cards that seem like they were added to provide easy cuts for upgrades or cards that Wizards wanted to introduce to the Commander format, but they had no other place to put them.

The second issue is a lack of focus. Many precons have too many themes going on, none of which are properly supported.

In the case of Squirreled Away, it’s a token deck that’s also a sacrifice deck that also focuses on squirrels and producing Food, which is… a lot. These ideas make sense. Bloomburrow creates mechanical ties between squirrels and Food, and sacrifice outlets are a fantastic way to squeeze value from a bundle of tokens. But the deck suffers from a lack of focus.

Additionally, I don’t think it makes good use of its commander. Hazel of the Rootbloom, one of the better Bloomburrow commanders, generates dizzying amounts of mana. Where are the cards to exploit it? What are you doing, ramping into Beledros Witherbloom? That’s just more ramp!

This lack of focus is the biggest flaw I want to address, with the nonexistent top-end being a secondary focus.

Magic: The Gathering Bloomburrow Commander Deck - Squirreled Away (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Green

• TINY TAILS, BIG ADVENTURE—Put your best paw forward and enter the world of Bloomburrow. Battle your friends with armies of adorable critters and prove that bravery comes in all sizes.
• SQUIRRELS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN—Stock up on tokens, then spend your hoard to clean house with an army of squirrels
• EPIC MULTIPLAYER BATTLES—Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 3 foil cards (one of which is Borderless.)
• CONTENTS—1 ready-to-play Squirreled Away Bloomburrow Commander Deck, a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack, 10 double-sided tokens, and 1 deck box

$51.14

Buy on Amazon

Upgrade Plan

The best way to focus a deck is by shaving away superfluous subthemes and bolstering the themes you want to add. For this deck, I’m going to focus on token creation and sacrifice. That’s where the deck’s strengths lie.

I’m ditching the food cards. They're flavorful, but ultimately distracting.

And I’m cutting some of the squirrel synergies.

Hold your tomatoes! You might think that goes against what Hazel wants, but I disagree. I think the squirrel text is a red herring. Hazel of the Rootbloom wants to amass a board of tokens and tap for a ton of mana. Restricting those tokens to squirrels seems limiting. Does Hazel benefit from being a squirrel commander? Yes, so I’m keeping the cards that generate Squirrel tokens. I’m just ditching the cards that care about them, like Squirrel Sovereign and Honored Dreyleader.

I’m replacing these cards with better token production and sacrifice outlets, plus a handful of big spells for Hazel to ramp into. I’m putting an emphasis on adding planeswalkers since this deck looks like it benefits from a long, grindy game, and some planeswalkers work very well in the context of a token-sacrifice strategy.

None of the cards I’m adding cost more than $20, so this should be pretty budget-friendly.

Wight of the Reliquary

Suggested Cut: Gilded Goose

One of my favorite cards from Modern Horizons 3—Wight of the Reliquary—is exactly what I want out of this deck: a sacrifice outlet that makes mana. It’s much stronger than Gilded Goose, which easily produces 1 mana and nothing else until you pay more mana into it. Wouldn’t you rather just get a land?

Bitterblossom

Suggested Cut: Maskwood Nexus

Bitterblossom generates a ton of tokens when landed early. The steady token production keeps up a nice, sturdy board state. This is one of the pricier upgrades; Dreadhorde Invasion works in this slot as well, though Hazel can’t copy amass tokens.

Maskwood Nexus also produces tokens, but it’s way slower and costlier. It works with Hazel, but I doubt the synergy is strong enough to warrant the extra mana.

Grist, the Hunger Tide

Suggested Cut: Academy Manufactor

If you only make one swap out of this list, make it this one. Grist, the Hunger Tide might be the single strongest card you can add to this archetype. Not only does it produce tokens, but it also acts as a sacrifice outlet and interaction. Turning a Squirrel into Murder is perfect.

Academy Manufactor is a tempting reason to maintain the Food synergies and honestly made me consider strengthening that subtheme, but I don’t think one card warrants an entire archetype. If you keep the Food, you can keep this artifact creature.

Thornvault Forager

Suggested Cut: Cache Grab

Cache Grab isn’t a bad card advantage, but between the current swaps and cards like Skullclamp and Plumb the Forbidden already in the deck, you can do better than “not bad.”

One of the strongest cards for Bloomburrow Limited, Thornvault Forager might be the best new mana dork in this set. Tapping for 2 mana is fantastic.

And that creature tutor activated ability! I’m cutting a lot of the squirrels, but Chatterfang, Squirrel General might be the best card in the deck (and also the best-looking, if you opened the Imagine: Courageous Critters version!). Getting a powerful card that also finds your best card is beautiful.

Primal Vigor

Suggested Cut: Moldervine Reclamation

I’ve never liked Moldervine Reclamation. It can draw a lot of cards, but it’s too expensive and takes time to become impactful. Primal Vigor has seen a sharp price dip with its recent reprints, making it affordable. It’s still 5 mana and takes time to get rolling, but this green enchantment wins the game more convincingly.

Vraska, Golgari Queen

Suggested Cut: Gourmand's Talent

Gourmand's Talent actually looks quite powerful; I’m only cutting it because I’m ditching Food synergies.

I love sacrificing tokens and other permanents to Vraska, Golgari Queen. It has a lot of loyalty for a 4-mana walker, and that ultimate provides a powerful alternate win condition, especially in a deck that floods the board with tokens.

Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Suggested Cut: Insatiable Frugivore

Another card lost without its Food synergies. Insatiable Frugivore looks really good—I often find that Food decks suffer from a lack of continuous Food generation. This black rat fills that hole nicely.

Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools produces tons of tokens and draws some cards. There’s not much else to say. It supports every theme I’m interested in supporting in this deck, so it was one of the first cards I added.

Scute Swarm

Suggested Cut: Squirrel Sovereign

I just don’t think this deck wants to focus on squirrels enough to make Squirrel Sovereign a card worth running. Scute Swarm can take over a game all on its lonesome, especially alongside Skullclamp.

Ruthless Knave

Suggested Cut: Honored Dreyleader

Even if I intended to keep the squirrel synergies around, Honored Dreyleader wouldn’t make the cut. It’s not bad, but making a single threat is underwhelming and easily blown out. I’d be far more interested if it buffed other squirrels.

Ruthless Knave is costly, but turning one token into two Treasure is powerful, especially since each activation lets Hazel add mana. You might even draw some cards off it!

Pitiless Plunderer

Suggested Cut: Hazel's Brewmaster

Another Food card I’ve shown the door. Hazel's Brewmaster could set up some sweet combos in a more food-focused deck; I can’t wait to see what it does with Ygra, Eater of All. It’s just not what this deck wants.

Pitiless Plunderer fits right in. I really appreciate how it maintains your token levels. It also creates infinite combos with Chatterfang, Squirrel General. If you don’t want that, I recommend Awakening Zone for a similar combination of token production and ramp.

Pest Infestation

Suggested Cut: Moonstone Eulogist

Moonstone Eulogist doesn’t technically require the Food synergies, but it certainly becomes worse without them. This black creature has a home in some decks, but not this one.

But Pest Infestation?

This green sorcery’s absence from the precon is almost criminal. It does everything you want: It interacts with your opponents, creates a bunch of tokens, and gives you an outlet for Hazel’s mana.

Breach the Multiverse

Suggested Cut: Nested Shambler

Nested Shambler is okay. You effectively get to sacrifice it twice, and this deck can benefit from the token. But it depreciates in value over the course of the game, and it’s relatively low impact, even when curved perfectly.

Breach the Multiverse gives you a fantastic bit of top end. I’ve added a bunch of planeswalkers that are great to dump into play, not to mention the value of three additional cards. This black sorcery can turn a close game in your favor with ease.

Cryptolith Rite

Suggested Cut: Wolfwillow Haven

Wolfwillow Haven is by no means bad, but you can do better. Like Cryptolith Rite.

Cryptolith Rite isn’t quite as good as Hazel of the Rootbloom at producing mana from your tokens since it does nothing with Treasure and your creatures are affected by summoning sickness, but it still serves as an acceptable ramp piece with a wide board state.

Torment of Hailfire

Suggested Cut: Sword of the Squeak

Sword of the Squeak is a hilarious callback to Sword of the Meek, but it doesn’t support the themes that interest me. This sword almost made the cut; it fell just short because I don’t really know what I want to equip it with.

Torment of Hailfire sits very near the top of the list of cards you want to sink mana into. Effects that give your opponents choices tend to be on the weaker side, but it doesn’t matter much if your opponents need to make a terrible choice fifteen times over.

Awaken the Woods

Suggested Cut: Woe Strider

Awaken the Woods serves double duty as a ramp spell and a spell to ramp into. Curving this X spell into Torment of Hailfire can level a pod full of healthy players since it nearly doubles your mana.

Woe Strider isn’t bad. It’s just not great, and the additions included enough sacrifice outlets that you can let one of the weaker ones fade into the underworld.

The Final Deck and New Cards

Ravenous Squirrel | Illustration by Dan Scott

These upgrades should make the Squirreled Away EDH precon far more lethal, focusing on creating and sacrificing tokens to generate value over a long game and finishing by Torment of Hailfire with an unreasonably large X or End-Raze Forerunners. If you want to try these upgrades out for yourself, you can purchase them with the shopping cart button above!

Commanding Conclusion

Awaken the Woods | Illustration by Bryan Sola

Squirreled Away lacks focus, with a variety of themes vying for support while none of them works as well as we would like. By shaving away the squirrels and Food themes, we can strengthen what I considered to be this deck's core: tokens and sacrifice synergies.

What did you think of the Squirreled Away precon? Which themes would you focus on? Would you have added different cards? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord, and if you are curious about the other three Commander precons from Bloomburrow, check out our Peace Offering Upgrade Guide, our Animated Army Upgrade Guide, or our Family Matters Upgrade Guide.

Stay safe and thanks for reading!

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